Colleen's World

quick trip to vegas

colleen — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:56:00 GMT

John had a conference in Vegas last week and I was able to escape for a few days to join him. My parents agreed to watch the kiddies so it was a few days to relax.

John hosts a Silverlight MIXer party at the House of Blues and I arrived just in time to enjoy it.

My brother Matt and his friend Kendra flew out to help run the party (with thanks to my sister-in-law Suzanne and Milk and Honey Events for a great party!).

We hired a professional photographer this year so we have some great photos. John put them on Flicker if you want to check them out. http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpapa/sets/72157626519606728/

We also enjoyed just relaxing for a few days (kid-free). We did some shopping one of the days and was excited to try on clothes since things are fitting so much better. I found I am two sizes smaller in jeans now! We put our P90X workouts on hold for a few days so we will repeat our Week 9 workouts. It was fun taking a few days off.

Matt and Kendra joined us for dinner at Rao’s in Caesar’s Palace one night. It was a fabulous Italian restaurant and we definitely stuffed our bellies with amazing food. They also came around and took photos…we loved ours.

So a special thanks to grandma and grandpa – it was a much needed vacation away for a few days!!

our trip to vancouver, ca

colleen — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 04:27:00 GMT

While my parents were in town we decided to head to Canada for an overnight visit in Vancouver. The drive was only about three hours and it went by pretty quickly.

We went to Stanley Park in Vancouver the first day. The kids had fun walking around the different areas.

It wasn’t raining the first day (which was great!) so we also went on a small train ride.

It was definitely for little kids…

Then we headed to the playground

Near our hotel was also a fun playground so we went to that later that night.

The second day it poured. But we were glad that our plans were to hit the aquarium which was mostly inside. Maddie took the photos with her camera in here.

The dolphins were definitely our favorites!!

We can’t wait to head back to Canada and take John with us (hopefully this summer) when it is a little sunnier and drier.

week 8 – p90x

colleen — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 05:10:00 GMT

Two months have flown by since I started P90X and I feel great! I have lost 10 pounds so far and I am fitting into clothes I haven’t worn in years. This past week was a recovery week and it almost felt like I wasn’t doing enough. I am shocked that I still want to push myself to do more. (I did go on the treadmill one of the days too).

This weekend we went to the mall and I decided to try on some clothes since John and I will be going to Vegas next week and I wanted something fun to wear. For the first time (in a long time), I actually enjoyed it! I liked all the stuff so much I bought everything I tried on. (Still debating on what to wear)

This last month the workouts change again…part of the muscle confusion with P90X. Every week this next month it will switch back and forth to work on a different area of arms and shoulders. I definitely feel a lot stronger from this past month but I still cannot match those insane people on the DVDs. But that is the great thing about this program – you do what you can and over time, you can do better. No pressure. Only what you feel you can accomplish. Nobody screaming at me to do more – only encouraging me to push myself to achieve awesome results. I really think this is why John and I have really had such great results.

It is almost time for my 60 day photo…curious to see the comparison from Day 1. It’s funny how you can have all that extra weight and then it magically disappears!! Where does it go?? Hmmmm.

ella’s 6th birthday party!

colleen — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 02:57:00 GMT

Ella said she had her best birthday party EVER! She invited all the girls from her kindergarten class plus our friends the Kinneys over for an egg hunt. I forget how adorable little 5 and 6 year olds can be. What a fun age!

Each of the girls picked out which color basket they wanted for collecting the eggs. I had hoped to have the egg hunt outside but it was raining most of the morning and we decided against it. So Haley and I hid all the eggs quickly and then we sent them off in search of the eggs!

So that lasted like 5 minutes…HA!! Then it was time for cake and presents!

Haley and Maddie (Olivia and Alex too!) helped serve the girls and help if anyone needed anything. Such great helpers!!!

Maddie got a little frosting on her lip…thanks to daddy!

Uh oh, he got Olivia too!

They enjoyed that way too much!

“What, I have something on my lip???”

Then it was time for presents!

Ella and her friend Lily (we call her Ella’s twin!)

Ella and Bella

Ella and Mei

Ella and Melissa

Ella with Olivia and Alex

Who is the mystery guest??

Ella and Angela

Ella and Julie

Ella and Chloe

Ella and Jordan

Happy birthday Ella!

week 7 – p90x

colleen — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:16:00 GMT

These weeks are flying by. I feel like I just wrote about week 6 and here I am at the end of week 7! Helps when you have an active family too.

I am chugging along with my workouts and I really am enjoying that hour each day when I can focus on getting in shape. I am a little scared of what will happen when my 90 days are up – but I think I have a good basis of what to do to keep it up.

My big milestone this week was fitting into my skinniest pair of jeans!! Whoo hoo! I have not worn them or gotten them up past my thighs in 3 years!! They were my one pair of jeans that I always held onto “just in case” I ever got in shape. It really feels great to be able to wear them and not have anything “hanging out” too.

I am at my lowest weight in five years. If someone had told me 7 weeks ago that I would be this much in shape so soon, I would have laughed at them. For all of those who have started this program and are a little hesitant, my advice is to stick with it! It works! I look forward to seeing what the end of each week will bring.

Tomorrow I start my 8th week (it is a recovery week), the workouts are less intense to give your body a rest. And at the end of that week, I start my final month with P90X.

How to be a pirate

colleen — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 04:33:00 GMT

That was the name of Maddie’s 3rd grade musical. It was very entertaining –it had singing and dancing and most of the kids got a line to say. Maddie was a pirate and had one of the lines.

They decorated the stage with a painted ship and other props.

Maddie had a great spot! Right under the sun!!

Landon sat still for most of the play…thank goodness for goldfish! Arg!

Ella turns 6!

colleen — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 04:17:00 GMT

Our little Ella turned 6 today and what a busy day we had. (Sorry if we missed some of your calls!) It felt like her birthday would never get here – she reminded us every day how excited she was for it.

I wish we could have slowed it down in the afternoon for her to enjoy it more but Maddie also had a big day…her 3rd grade play was tonight so we had to rush out to that. (See my next blog post)

It was definitely a “pink” birthday. She has become such a big girl this year. We are having her “kid” birthday party this weekend so the birthday fun will continue a little longer.

She wanted brownies instead of cake – we will have cake this weekend.

Landon wanted to help Ella open her presents…

John brought her home a Princess shirt from Disney World

Ella loved all her stuff from her aunts and uncles and cousins!

And grandma and grandpa – she loved the little dolls!

She got a pillow pet too!

I love her face on this one… “what, a new webkinz!!”

Riding her new pink scooter!

Landon had to have a turn of course…

Happy birthday Ella Lee!

week 6 – p90x

colleen — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:58:00 GMT

In some ways it feels like we have been doing P90X for more than 6 weeks but then again, it has also flown by. We are in a nice routine with working out, juggling the kids and eating right.

I am down another pound and I survived my new dvd from last week. It wasn’t as bad the second time – not sure if it was because I had done the moves or my body was just in better shape. I’m hoping for the latter.

John is traveling to Florida this week so he faces the challenge of working out in a hotel room. He is not sure how he will manage the “bands” without using a door jam. The hotel he is staying at does have an awesome workout room so he could do some of his workouts there.

My highlight this week – I ran on the treadmill!! I can certainly tell my body is in much better shape because I could run on the treadmill. I haven’t been able to last more than a minute or two before and I ran for almost five minutes!! The best part was I didn’t feel like I was going to die after I did either. No cramps in my side or trouble catching my breath. And I ran in intervals of 2 - 5 minutes over and over. My knees and back felt it afterwards…but I was happy with my endurance. I also ran at the highest level on the treadmill I have ever done – 7mph. The slower speed felt too slow. I didn’t know I could run that fast!

So, onto my next week…

Week 5 – p90x

colleen — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 04:33:00 GMT

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of this P90X – I add a different DVD and everything changes. Thanks for kicking my butt yet again P90X!

For my third workout day, I added “chest, shoulders & triceps”. I was feeling fine until that workout. It completely kicked my butt and I felt really depressed about how I could barely manage some of the moves. One arm pushups?? Clapping in between pushups?? Hello!!! I was feeling pretty good about my strength…until then.

The next day I could barely move my arms, neck, anything from my chest up. I was sore for a good 3 days after too!! Thank goodness I only added that DVD. John added two (including the chest one and a biceps and back one)…his biceps are still aching too! I would never imagine doing some of these pushups on my own…EVER!! As you can tell, I’m not looking forward to doing it again in a few days. Don’t get me wrong, my body is getting in shape and I am starting to notice it everywhere. But this week I was dragging…

These workouts are all about muscle confusion and my muscles were feeling it. I think my muscles are just confused to begin with - because I am actually exercising every day!!

My highlight for the week - I have lost another pound and a half, about 7 pounds total. I am loving that extra carb this month too. Waffles, bread, pasta…I have missed you!!

So, here’s to hoping I survive my “day 3” this week!

P90X – week 4

colleen — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:38:00 GMT

I survived the first month of P90X!! I am really motivated now to get healthy and fit. This last week was a “recovery” week so it was suppose to be a lighter workout week (still hard workouts in my opinion some of the days). More stretching, cardio and less weights – basically a week to give your muscles a break and a chance to recover.

I did try John’s DVD Plyometrics one of the days where I just had a stretch DVD to do. OMG!!!! What an intense workout that was! That is definitely the “mother” of all workouts for this program. Wow! It is similar to “jump training” for athletes and I felt out of shape after that. But I was glad I tried it and may try it again when I really want to burn some calories.

I haven’t lost any more weight this week which I was surprised at but I do feel muscles again so I am hoping that something is working right.

I am excited to have an additional carb starting tomorrow!! Break out the bread!! The hard part is deciding what I really want to use it on. So many choices…

John and I did take 30 day photos but I am not feeling comfortable enough to post any of them!! Still no beach body for me. As I mentioned last week, my jeans fit so much better. When I asked the girls if they noticed I looked any different Ella said “Yes, mommy…your belly doesn’t hang over your jeans anymore!” LOL!! Ah, they speak the truth.

Tomorrow I start my fifth week and the DVDs are pretty much the same except I add a different arm workout (Chest, shoulder and triceps). I may swap out my Cardio X workout and try to do Plyometrics for a more intense workout. (I’m going to see if I can survive it again…)